Posted on 01/11/2003 4:25:55 PM PST by vannrox
Russia offers N-plant expertise
Moscow says it can build plant to meet needs of Pyongyang while keeping it in non-proliferation pact
MOSCOW - Russia yesterday sought to play a key role in defusing North Korea's nuclear crisis by offering to build an atomic power plant for Pyongyang and calling on all parties to refrain from threats.
Nuclear Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said that Russia had the technical capacity to build such a power plant in North Korea, according to the Itar-Tass news agency.
He suggested that Moscow could assist North Korea with its nuclear energy programme to help bring it back into the framework of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). North Korea withdrew from the treaty on Friday.
North Korea unfroze its nuclear programmes last month after Washington halted oil deliveries which were part of a 1994 deal.
The 1994 pact also called for the construction of nuclear-power plants by a consortium made up of the US, Japan and South Korea.
Mr Rumyantsev expressed regret that Russia was not part of that effort.
'Russia was not invited to join that project,' he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in telephone talks with his counterparts in China, France, South Korea and the United States called on them to refrain from 'pressure and threats'.
Reasserting the importance of a nuclear-weapons-free Korean peninsula, Mr Ivanov told his counterparts 'the escalation of tension should be stopped immediately', Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told Moscow Echo radio yesterday.
A settlement to the crisis 'must be a package decision attained via constructive dialogue in the interests of all of the parties involved and aimed at establishing lasting peace on the Korean peninsula', Mr Yakovenko quoted Mr Ivanov as saying.
Russia also believes that it is too early to take the issue to the UN Security Council.
The US is preparing to take its case against Pyongyang to the Council and is looking for broad support.
Holding a Security Council meeting on North Korea's nuclear activities and its withdrawal from the NPT would be 'premature', Mr Yakovenko said.
'Bilateral and multilateral contacts, which are being intensively conducted among the interested parties, should continue,' he said, adding that the possibilities of such talks 'are far from exhausted'. --AP
A deadly game
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passes a resolution demanding North Korea re-admit UN inspectors and abandon its secret nuclear-weapons programme 'within weeks', or face possible action by the UN Security Council.
UN and IAEA urge North Korea to retract its decision to reactivate its nuclear facilities and abide by its obligations under the NPT.
North Korea reactivates nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, frozen under the 1994 deal.
Japan and South Korea halt heavy-oil supplies to North Korea promised under the 1994 deal.
US reveals discovery of North Korea's nuclear-weapons programme.
What is France doing in this list? Did he mean Japan, but couldn't say the word?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.